Air Quality Impacts: Local and Global Concern

Abstract

This chapter introduces air quality as a global issue, particularly for the world’s burgeoning megacities. It provides the foundation for a book that lays out the many factors that contribute to an acute urban air pollution problem in one of these locales, the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), and demonstrates the science, technology, and policy issues that surround the issue. Of these three factors, policymaking is the most difficult and tenacious. It requires the integration of institutional, financial, developmental, and political realities at many levels. This chapter sets the stage for this discussion by explaining how air pollution is produced and why it is important to protect the environment from its effects. Subsequent chapters detail the case studies of Los Angeles and the MCMA; the forces driving air pollution in the MCMA; its effects on health; the science of air pollution; the science of measuring, analyzing, and monitoring; the key role of the transportation sector; and finally, recommendations for positive action in the near and long terms. The important message of this chapter is that the problem of air pollution must be approached through an integrated assessment of its sources, impacts, and control mechanisms uniquely tailored to each city’s circumstances.